Copying vinyl logos from photos??
Discussion
I am restoring an ex Heinz-Harald Frentzen Lola back to its original period Camel sponsored colour scheme and will soon need to address the logos on the car. Has anyone experience of copying logos from photos with a good degree of accuracy as to size and colour? What's involved, both technically and financially? Photos of the car in period scheme and some of a friends Lotus F1 with similar logos from the same period at http://www.chriswilson.tv/frentzen/frentzen.html
Thanks.
Thanks.
The best thing would be to try and locate the logos in vector .eps format.
A logo in this format will be editable with the right software (eg. adobe illustrator) where you can change the colours or modify them if necessary (removing an unwanted strapline for example.
If you can get the logos in this format you can then just take them to a vinyl cutter / car graphics place and get them made up. You'll have to try and work out the scale from the photos. Try and identify a part of the car you know the size of and then compare this to the logo on the car and try and work out the size needed. Not a 100% accurate way of doing it but a good start.
You could always print the logos out on a home printer and then get them in the right place and see if the size looks right by eye.
The benefit of using vector based eps files rather is than they are infinitely scalable. An inch wide logo could be printed 10 metres wide and the quality would not deteriorate.
If you use photoshop the logos will be pixel based and as you scale them up the quality will deteriorate (imagine what would happen if you enlarged a normal holiday snap, the quality deteriorates and you begin to see the pixels.)
Also a vinyl cutter will prefer a vector based eps logo as their machines will see the edges and be able to map them.
Logos can be found all over the internet, search for the logo and .eps
Alternatively try this website, I found the auto bild logo on it in the right format, not exactly the same style but if you have illustrator the shadow on the text could be removed in seconds.
http://www.brandsoftheworld.com/search/logo/AUTO%2...
Hope that helps, let me know if I can help more.
A logo in this format will be editable with the right software (eg. adobe illustrator) where you can change the colours or modify them if necessary (removing an unwanted strapline for example.
If you can get the logos in this format you can then just take them to a vinyl cutter / car graphics place and get them made up. You'll have to try and work out the scale from the photos. Try and identify a part of the car you know the size of and then compare this to the logo on the car and try and work out the size needed. Not a 100% accurate way of doing it but a good start.
You could always print the logos out on a home printer and then get them in the right place and see if the size looks right by eye.
The benefit of using vector based eps files rather is than they are infinitely scalable. An inch wide logo could be printed 10 metres wide and the quality would not deteriorate.
If you use photoshop the logos will be pixel based and as you scale them up the quality will deteriorate (imagine what would happen if you enlarged a normal holiday snap, the quality deteriorates and you begin to see the pixels.)
Also a vinyl cutter will prefer a vector based eps logo as their machines will see the edges and be able to map them.
Logos can be found all over the internet, search for the logo and .eps
Alternatively try this website, I found the auto bild logo on it in the right format, not exactly the same style but if you have illustrator the shadow on the text could be removed in seconds.
http://www.brandsoftheworld.com/search/logo/AUTO%2...
Hope that helps, let me know if I can help more.
Edited by JAM35F on Friday 15th October 23:59
It's quite straight forward, but you do need someone familiar with Photoshop or something.
But here is what you do (and hopefully its a flat surface).
Take a picture, doesn't need a measurement yet, drop the colours of everything but the logo. Essentially you need to redefine the colour pallet so it only contains one colour, the colour of the logo. If the logo has more than one colour, you'll need to repeat for each colours of the logo.
Once you have the colours dropped, ideally take it into black and white (eg high contrast), and get someone with a cutter to take that file into their software. There is a trace function that will trace the outline of the shape you have and make something cuttable.
Then repeat that for each colour of the logo.
You only need measurements when you come to cut the thing.
It's actually quite straight forward, and I'd imagine a package like Illustrator could easily do it in one.
Wouldn't worry too much about resolution of the cutter as they are quite good at getting that right in the first place. If you did manage to get jagged lines on the cutter, repeat the process with a better camera with more resolution. But frankly, I can't see that being a problem unless you were taking a picture of the logo in the dark with a phone camera from 30 feet using the moon for illumination.
Drop me a line if you want.
But here is what you do (and hopefully its a flat surface).
Take a picture, doesn't need a measurement yet, drop the colours of everything but the logo. Essentially you need to redefine the colour pallet so it only contains one colour, the colour of the logo. If the logo has more than one colour, you'll need to repeat for each colours of the logo.
Once you have the colours dropped, ideally take it into black and white (eg high contrast), and get someone with a cutter to take that file into their software. There is a trace function that will trace the outline of the shape you have and make something cuttable.
Then repeat that for each colour of the logo.
You only need measurements when you come to cut the thing.
It's actually quite straight forward, and I'd imagine a package like Illustrator could easily do it in one.
Wouldn't worry too much about resolution of the cutter as they are quite good at getting that right in the first place. If you did manage to get jagged lines on the cutter, repeat the process with a better camera with more resolution. But frankly, I can't see that being a problem unless you were taking a picture of the logo in the dark with a phone camera from 30 feet using the moon for illumination.
Drop me a line if you want.
Edited by tinman0 on Saturday 16th October 00:17
Using a pixel based photography based programme like photoshop won't produce the best results. A vector based programme like illustrator is needed as you will get defined edges that the vinyl cutter will 'see'. The edges will also be pin sharp and not jagged where the individual pixels have blurred.
Use brandsoftheworld.com as a starting point for the logos.
Use brandsoftheworld.com as a starting point for the logos.
JAM35F said:
Using a pixel based photography based programme like photoshop won't produce the best results. A vector based programme like illustrator is needed as you will get defined edges that the vinyl cutter will 'see'. The edges will also be pin sharp and not jagged where the individual pixels have blurred.
Not really because the resolution should be high enough to more or less make a straight cut in the first place. I've done this before and it's no really problem to take from a picture.the pictures will need to be spot on, very hi res and the camera angle wil have to be perfect to avoid getting a distorted logo. I'd search for vector logo files first before resorting to this.
As a graphic designer I use photoshop and illustrator everyday and have had to do this type of thing lots of times before. Tracing from a photo is real amateur stuff and the result will never be as good as a vector version.
As a graphic designer I use photoshop and illustrator everyday and have had to do this type of thing lots of times before. Tracing from a photo is real amateur stuff and the result will never be as good as a vector version.
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